When Buddha decides to die || Acharya Prashant, at Goa University (2022)

Acharya Prashant

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Transcript

00:00Hello sir, this is not a well formulated question or anything, but the discussion around bodies

00:09kind of disturbed me a little bit and I kind of sensed that it came from a place of privilege

00:16because, you know, socio-politically body has been made the center of discrimination

00:24at so many levels, you know, be it disabled bodies, bodies of color or queer bodies.

00:30So bodies have been made the center of discrimination and has continued to, you know, being made

00:36so.

00:37Where I am going with this is, should we kind of acknowledge some kind of limit to spirituality?

00:46Because can spirituality, you know, show us a way in all walks of life?

00:53On the question that the previous questioner had asked about ghosts and such, just imagine

01:00if I am a schizophrenia and I see, I am delusional and I see things that are not really there

01:07for anybody else.

01:09So just because somebody else does not see it, it does not, you know, make me, make my

01:17presence non-existent, right?

01:21So again, I am repeating the question, like, does spirituality have a kind of limit?

01:28Should it be, you know, not be sought in certain cases like, you know, social discrimination

01:34or are there places where we have to set this aside and, you know, put on?

01:40You will need to converse because there are a lot of things, so I do not think I can…

01:47It is not a question per se, like…

01:48You want to discuss, I understand, because I cannot have a monologue in this, there are

01:52a lot of things that you are trying to say.

01:54So why do you think that spirituality must have a ceiling somewhere?

02:01Not a ceiling, what I am meant to say is, are we kind of giving a misconception that,

02:11you know, all your answers can be found in spirituality?

02:15No, no, spirituality does not talk of giving answers.

02:19It says the central problem is the I itself and there lies the solution.

02:32If the I is the problem and the I is drunk and ignorant and it is asking a lot of questions,

02:40there is no point giving answers to those questions.

02:43In fact, spirituality has very few answers.

02:46It has a central solution, no answers.

02:51Of what use is an answer if it keeps the questioner alive?

02:56You give one answer, he will come up with four more questions.

03:00A solution is something that dissolves the questioner.

03:04The questioner is the false I, the false I and if that false I can go away.

03:12All kinds of things that make us suffer just disappear.

03:16That's spirituality.

03:17I think then my question would be, can everyone afford to be spiritual?

03:26How do you afford to not to be spiritual?

03:30Because if you are not spiritual, then you are making a mistake at the very first step

03:36of your existence.

03:37No, the discussion about the I right, the questioner, it kind of reminded me of Ramana

03:44Magarishi's example, kind of the pyre which you use to keep the pyre burning and it burns

03:53itself out.

03:54I am talking of people who are living in a kind of delusional state wherein you can't

04:02separate this I from the body or I from the mind.

04:06So you gave an example, you said that for example somebody is, what did you say, schizophrenic

04:14and that fellow is experiencing something and that experience is very real for that

04:20person and you are saying how does it help, how does spirituality help that person?

04:30What apart from spirituality can help that person?

04:32The person has to know that the thing is not the truth, truth is absolute, absolute

04:40meaning 100% objective, zero subjectivity in it or you could say pure subjectivity in

04:47the sense that objects apart from the subject do not exist, whatever you say.

04:52But truth is something that is not relative.

04:54We suffer when we take our condition as the truth.

05:00When we start seeing that it is something only for me, not only is it only for me, it

05:07is in fact rooted in me, then I in fact feel empowered by way of having a choice.

05:14If it is to me, then it can also be not to me.

05:20But if it's something is absolute, then I have no way of opting out, please understand.

05:29If the temperature in this room is 27 degrees centigrade, there is no way I can experience

05:3432 degrees, right?

05:37Because that's what the temperature is.

05:40But if I am feverish and I am the only one experiencing a high temperature, then I have

05:46a choice.

05:47The choice is to get rid of my disease.

05:52Spirituality tells you whatever you are experiencing is your own subjective matter, therefore you

05:58have the power to modify your experiences.

06:02And even if you cannot modify your experiences, you can at least have control over your reaction

06:08and your attitude to your experiences.

06:10Have you heard of John Nash?

06:16You remember the movie, A Beautiful Mind?

06:22You remember what he used to experience?

06:24What was it?

06:26He was experiencing all kinds of things and he was one of the greatest mathematicians

06:30in recent times.

06:32Game theory.

06:33Any mathematics students here?

06:36You would know the importance of Nash.

06:40And he was seeing people, he was seeing places, he was seeing that little girl, if I remember

06:45correctly.

06:46That movie came around a decade back, so I don't read it clearly.

06:49And how did he used to counter that?

06:52You remember that?

06:55He used to say, he would be seeing this apparition in front of me, there is this girl and the

07:01girl is saying something.

07:03She would look around and try to detect whether others too are looking at her.

07:09Something like that?

07:10Am I mistaken?

07:11Something like that, right?

07:13And when he would see that nobody around him is looking at her, he would tell himself,

07:18it's only me, it's subjective.

07:21And if it's subjective, I give it no importance.

07:26I give it no importance, then I move on.

07:28So spirituality, which is I-awareness, is the only way to get rid of all that which

07:35infects you, afflicts you.

07:39So what else do you do?

07:44You know, I had COVID and one of the effects of COVID was that I developed tinnitus, rather

07:51strong one in one of my ears.

07:55So for the initial few weeks or months, I would be searching for the insects around

08:03that were making those noise.

08:04What is tinnitus?

08:05You constantly hear noise in your ear.

08:09Now I was used to having perfectly healthy ears, you know, silence when silent.

08:16But now there is always a constant buzz, as if you have those insects that come around

08:23in the rainy season.

08:27So I would actually be looking around, where is the noise coming from, where is the noise

08:30coming from?

08:31Or I would be thinking there is something in the ear that's creating the noise, so

08:35I would be trying to clean it up.

08:38After a while, I learnt, I said it's only me and if it's only me, how am I trying to

08:45fight it?

08:46Let it be there.

08:47It's doing what it would and the doctor said it is going to now remain your entire life.

08:51Can't be helped.

08:52That can't be helped.

08:53Can't be helped.

08:54Let the body do what it wants to do.

08:55I'll do what I want to do.

08:57Even at this moment, there is somebody speaking to me in my ear.

09:01Let him speak.

09:02I'm speaking to you.

09:03Do I have that choice?

09:06Do I have that choice?

09:07That's what spirituality asks you.

09:09Don't you have a choice?

09:12Don't you have a choice?

09:13Exercise that choice.

09:15Why must you needlessly suffer?

09:17Why must you be a slave to the body and therefore to the world?

09:21You have a choice to be your own master.

09:27But I'm sure it's not yet complete.

09:29Please continue.

09:35So the question of consent came to my mind when you were, you know, so, so, so, yeah,

09:40when you are having the ringing in your ear, you're able to say that, you know, like I'm

09:45the only one who's hearing it.

09:47So my, I think from the beginning, my question has been this.

09:51So what if someone cannot make this call for themselves?

09:55And that's a choice.

09:57It's not that you cannot make this call.

10:00Spirituality just does not admit the word helplessness.

10:07There is no space for this one word.

10:11If there is one sin, it is called helplessness.

10:15Never say I never had a choice.

10:16You had a choice.

10:17You chose not to exercise the choice.

10:20Take it upon yourself.

10:21Be responsible.

10:23But in certain medical situations, the, you know, the consent falls on the family when,

10:29you know, the individual is not able to give some consent.

10:31That's fine.

10:32The individual is then already gone.

10:34If the individual is not conscious enough, even to give consent, take him as already

10:40gone.

10:42The choosing agency itself is no more there now.

10:47So how do you call the patient even alive?

10:49Now, are we suspending the judgment here or like, are we like?

10:56See, please understand.

11:00Would you want to call yourself alive by virtue of the fact that you breathe, you eat?

11:09Give a nuanced answer.

11:13Or do you call yourself alive when you are conscious?

11:18And to be conscious is to have a choice.

11:23There is a difference between human beings and animals and vegetables.

11:26If a vegetable can grow, you say it's alive, right?

11:30If it's not rotting, it's alive.

11:33If an animal can move about and breathe and eat, it's alive.

11:37But should the same definition be applied to human beings?

11:42We are not animals.

11:43We are creatures of consciousness.

11:45We are alive only if we can know, we can experience and we can decide.

11:54If you can neither know nor experience nor decide, how are you alive?

11:58But by that definition, you're going to have a huge problem.

12:02By that definition, 99% of the people of the world are already dead.

12:10Because we move about, we eat, we do a lot of things.

12:16But are we really conscious enough to know and choose?

12:21Well, we are not.

12:22We run around like automatons.

12:25We are very deeply conditioned beings, machines.

12:29So we are actually not alive in the truest sense.

12:34But it appears at least that we are alive.

12:36When that person is there on the deathbed, not having any consciousness and also the

12:45probability of him regaining consciousness runs close to zero.

12:51I do not see how we are still calling him as a living person.

12:59If I faint now and I'm not able to do anything on my own, am I good enough dead?

13:06The probability of your regaining consciousness, that remains to be seen.

13:11If I know that you can be brought back, let's say in six months, in one year, and the cost

13:18of bringing you back is not so high that it turns many others unconscious, then I'll want

13:28to revive you.

13:30Otherwise not.

13:31See, let's be very realistic.

13:35How can I keep one person alive if keeping that one person alive is tantamount to turning

13:41ten others dead?

13:50Unless that person is potentially so full of consciousness that even a major possibility

13:59of reviving him is sufficient to keep us going, a Buddha, a Krishna, a Christ, if he were

14:08on his deathbed, probably it would be fair enough for twenty others to sacrifice their

14:14lives to bring him up.

14:17But that's a very, very unique and impossible kind of case.

14:21So let's not discuss that.

14:23But again, I'm leaving more disturbed now because we have a classic case, the trolley

14:34example, the trolley case in philosophy, wherein you kind of judge which life is, like you

14:41said, if you can sacrifice twenty lives to save the life of one Buddha, is it morally

14:46right?

14:49So I don't know, I still cannot agree with you, but I don't want to be more annoying

14:53with my…

14:54No, no, no, no, no, I think everybody is enjoying it, are we not?

14:58We are really enjoying this and it's going deeper and deeper, please continue.

15:04See, see, see, wait, wait, wait, when we say that it is alright to have twenty people go

15:13for the sake of one Buddha, I'm talking of twenty lovers.

15:19I'm not talking of twenty sacrificial lambs.

15:23Is that not clear?

15:25I'm saying the nature of the Buddha is such that in love there would be twenty willing

15:32to lay down their lives so that the Buddha can be resurrected.

15:39Not that I'm purchasing animals from the market and forcefully slaughtering them to

15:44somehow revive one VIP.

15:47No, that's not what I'm talking of.

15:50If I really love you and I know your worth, I'll lay down my life for your sake.

15:56Is that not what love is?

15:58That's what I'm talking of.

16:06I'm not talking of attachment, I'm talking of knowing your worth and therefore laying

16:10down my life.

16:11Knowing, knowing, knowledge, not attachment.

16:12I'll leave the mic for something else to take over.

16:25So the question which was raised before and how you finished, I got motivated actually

16:33to continue.

16:34So when you were talking about the Buddha and twenty people giving their lives willingly

16:41because of love to save Buddha, Christ, Krishna, whatever.

16:46So first question which was raised in me is, will Buddha want something like that?

16:58And second question is, you said for Buddha, but is it important, is it Buddha or me or

17:04anybody here?

17:06Because I think that those two are quite important questions to talk about.

17:10Is it because Buddha is Buddha and because the idea that Buddha will save us after that

17:15when he is rising or Christ or whatever?

17:18Or because what is love then?

17:21Is it love related to love towards something which is going to somehow save us or help

17:27us or do something for us?

17:29Or love is giving life, not just life.

17:34It doesn't have to be at the ultimate level.

17:37But actually the level of sacrifice which is not anymore a sacrifice because it's done

17:43by…

17:44Beautiful.

17:45So, what's love?

17:47What's sacrifice?

17:48What's love?

17:49What's sacrifice?

17:50How does the whole thing happen?

17:52Who are we?

17:53We are conscious entities that seek contentment in consciousness.

18:02We want to be more conscious.

18:05We want to be absolutely conscious.

18:07Our consciousness remains blemished with all kinds of nonsense.

18:14We want to give that up.

18:17We want to be purer selves.

18:20That's who we are.

18:21Then what is love?

18:22And what is sacrifice?

18:25To give that up which impedes your ascension is sacrifice.

18:34If there is something that blocks you from rising upwards, it is sacrifice.

18:41And that's why sacrifice is no big deal because you are only giving that up which was anyway

18:47unnecessary.

18:49In that sense, sacrifice and renunciation are one.

18:54What is love?

18:56Love is the desire to rise upwards.

19:01And if the desire is not about rising upwards, then it cannot be called as love.

19:08You want to be a better and higher self.

19:12You have that adulation, that respect towards that which is high up there.

19:19That is love.

19:21That is the purest definition of love.

19:25Is there a want there?

19:27Is want that important in that?

19:29That wanting exists.

19:31You see, there is nobody who does not desire.

19:36Is there anybody here who does not desire?

19:38In fact, we all would have desired something or the other even in the last 10 minutes.

19:45All desires are in some way forms of love, however unfortunately perverted forms of love.

19:56All desire is for your own betterment, is that not?

20:01You desire something for your own sake.

20:04It says that we do not know what would make us better.

20:08So we keep desiring all the useless things.

20:12When the desire is right, it is called love.

20:15When the desire is about getting something that would actually take you upwards, it is called love.

20:22So there is this beautiful story by O. Henry, if I remember correctly.

20:35Husband and wife story where they are poor couple and the husband probably wants a wrist watch.

20:44O. Henry?

20:48O. Henry?

20:50Anybody remembers the title?

20:52Gift of the…

20:54Gift of the…

20:56Gift of the…

20:58No, not the watch.

21:00Not the watch.

21:02If somebody would Google, you will know.

21:04But it is a very popular story.

21:06So we are talking of sacrificing.

21:08So what happens is this.

21:10So the husband wants a watch and the wife wants something for her hair.

21:22Hair clips.

21:24Let us say hair clips.

21:26This one.

21:29This one.

21:31The gift of the Magi.

21:33And it is probably Christmas time, right?

21:35Christmas time.

21:37So they both surprise each other on Christmas Eve.

21:43The wife has given away her hair to get the watch for the husband.

21:50And the husband has sold off something important, the watch itself, to get the clips for the wife.

21:58That is how sacrifice operates.

22:00You do it for the other.

22:02You do it for the other, knowing perfectly well that what you are doing for the other would indeed be helpful to the other.

22:09Wanting nothing in return.

22:11So you said, would Buddha want 20 people to lay down their lives for his sake?

22:17He won't.

22:19In fact, there is a beautiful anecdote from Buddha's life.

22:25We do not know whether these things happened or not.

22:28But if these stories exist, there is a reason.

22:33So the Buddha is going and there is this butcher taking away a goat for slaughter.

22:40And the Buddha tells the butcher, why are you slaughtering the goat?

22:44Please leave the goat.

22:46The butcher says, but you know, I kill the goat and I make my ends meet.

22:55There is certain money to be had.

22:59So the Buddha says, how much money?

23:02The butcher tells an amount.

23:05Buddha is not having that kind of thing.

23:09So the Buddha says, fine, it's flesh that you would get from this animal, right?

23:15The butcher says, yes.

23:17So Buddha says, alright, you take that similar weight of flesh from my body and leave the poor animal.

23:24Now here you find the one with the highest consciousness prepared to sacrifice himself for an animal with a very low level of consciousness.

23:37That's how love operates.

23:40Love for love to the one who is at a low level of consciousness is to aspire for a high level.

23:50And love for one sitting on the Himalayan peaks of consciousness is to be compassionate towards those who are at low levels.

24:03And for their sake, if needed, lay down your life.

24:09The one who is at the lower level needs to lay down his life so that he can be higher.

24:16In fact, if you do not lay down your life at the lower level, how will you ever rise higher?

24:20You will continue to be existent at the lower levels.

24:26So if you are here, then you need to quit your life at this level so that you may rise up.

24:33And if you are up, then by the virtue of being up there, you get so much compassion

24:40that you are prepared to lay down your life for the ones who are lower down.

24:47Now you do not know who must die for whom.

24:52Is there a higher and lower level if you are there?

24:56If I do not answer this question, why would you remain dissatisfied?

25:02Because this question is asked so that you can move to a higher level.

25:07The existence of this question itself proves that there indeed is a lower and a higher level.

25:13Otherwise, why will you ask a question?

25:17Because you mentioned.

25:20It does not make it obligatory on you to do anything.

25:25Does anybody like being lied to?

25:30When there is something in front of you, you want to know its truth.

25:35We all have a natural love for higher levels of consciousness.

25:41It's our duty to do justice to that love.

25:46To exist for the sake of that love.

25:50All this that is happening here, what is this?

25:53This is an exercise in love.

25:55Love not in the sense that you are loving a mortal person here or vice versa.

26:03Love in the sense that we are sitting here to raise ourselves up.

26:09And that is what is called the action of love.

26:13To raise yourself up.

26:15I am attracted towards the highest.

26:18That's called love.

26:20And therefore, all attraction towards anything other than the highest is not love.

26:29We may call it as love, but it is not love.

26:32So, for example, if you say, I love chicken.

26:35That's not love.

26:37Even the love that we exhibit towards most of that,

26:43that we exhibit towards our families, our girlfriends, boyfriends or this or that,

26:50that's hardly love.

26:52Because that hardly ever amounts to a rise in consciousness.

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